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Author Topic: Expanding the Craftworlds units from the Wake the Dead Box Into a Basic Army  (Read 1956 times)

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Offline Blazinghand

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Expanding the Craftworlds units from Wake the Dead Box Into a Basic Army

Introduction


Craftworld Eldar are capable of many styles of play. Our forces excel using long ranged shooting, heavy tank and walker armies, close ranged high-firepower shooting, mobile assault, mechanized vehicle-based armies, and so on. Eldar is currently a well-balanced faction, able to compete at all levels of play.

If you want to begin collecting Craftworld Eldar, the splitting the Wake the Dead box with a friend and using the Craftworlds half is a great way to begin. This article will be an overview of what you need in order to collect, assemble, paint, and play a 1,000 point Craftworld Eldar army based on the units in the Wake the Dead box. If you have already purchased Wake the Dead, and want to know how to grow it into a 1,000 point army, this is the article for you.

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Contents of the Wake the Dead Box and what to add

A good way to begin your army is with a Wake the Dead box. This box contains 1 Spiritseer (HQ), 5 Wraithguard (Elite), 10 Guardians with a weapon platform (Troop), and a Wave Serpent (Transport). This is a great core for an army. The Spiritseer is a versatile and inexpensive spell caster. The Wraithguard are considered tough, heavy hitters, particularly with D-Scythes. Guardians are mobile and have great firepower, albeit with low range and durability. The Wave Serpent transport is a necessary unit in most Eldar armies, delivering our elite short-ranged units to where they will be most deadly. This box costs about 90 GBP or 150 USD. If you split this box with another player, it costs about 45 GBP or 75 USD and provides 500 points of units.

In terms of core units to add to the box, the easiest route to take is to add two more troop units and an HQ unit to form a Battalion. The HQ unit you almost certainly want will be the Farseer (20 USD / 12 GBP), a powerful spell caster that appears in nearly every Eldar army. Guardian Defenders (36 USD / 22 GBP) have great firepower and weapon options, while Rangers (33 USD / 20 GBP) have good durability at range and a unique deployment power. This will bring you to about 800 points, leaving room for a number of options on how to round out your army to 1,000 points. There are many valid options for spending your remaining points. Here are a couple options that make use of some classic Eldar units:

Option 1: Add a Dark Reapers Box

Dark Reapers embody Khaine in his role as the destroyer, and are the Eldar specialists in long range shooting. If you want an infantry unit that can strike the opponent from the other side of the table with good firepower, this is the option for you. A box of 5 runs 41 USD or 24 GBP, and will bring the army to nearly 1,000 points.

Total Purchases
  • Wake the Dead (1/2)
  • Farseer
  • Guardian Squad
  • Rangers
  • Dark Reapers
  • Total Cost: About 123 GBP or 205 USD

An example of an army you can make this way:

Quote
BATTALION of AELDARI ASURYANI <CRAFTWORLD>
HQ: Farseer with Witchblade - 110
HQ: Spiritseer - 65
TROOPS: 10 Guardian Defenders with a Shuriken Cannon Platform - 95
TROOPS: 10 Guardian Defenders with a Shuriken Cannon Platform - 95
TROOPS: 5 Rangers - 60
ELITE: 5 Wraithguard with D-Scythes - 215
HEAVY: 5 Dark Reapers, one of which is an Exarch armed with a Tempest Launcher - 175
TRANSPORT: Wave Serpent with Twin Bright Lances, Crystal Targeting Matrix, Spirit Stones, Shuriken Cannon - 185

1,000 pts

This army has a combination of long ranged shooting with the Dark Reapers and Rangers, with close range shooting using the Guardians and Wraithguard, capable of putting out plenty of firepower if you can get the right units into position for it. Note that it is generally a good idea to magnetize the turret weapons on the Wave Serpent, which vary in usefulness in different armies. Since the 5 Dark Reapers do not quite fill up the 1,000 points, I dumped the extra points into Wave Serpent upgrades that may not be useful in many circumstances. To expand this army to 1500 points, Some mobile units like Swooping Hawks, and an additional troop unit like 5 more Rangers (which would allow the 2 Guardian units to merge into one, larger Guardian unit that could use Webway Strike) would both be good additions.

Option 2: Add a Swooping Hawks box and a Wraithlord

Swooping Hawks are named for the birds of elder myth who marked the guilty. On the tabletop, they are capable harassers with good anti-infantry firepower and blistering speed. The Wraithlord, piloted by a heroic soul ripped from the infinity circuit to fight for the craftworld once more, is an iconic monster best taken as a melee fighter with a sword, and is reasonably effective in this role. I recommend magnetizing his shoulder mounts for later editions when his heavy weapon options work better. A Wraithlord box is 46 USD or 28 GBP. A Swooping Hawk box is 41 USD or 24 GBP.

Total Purchases
  • Wake the Dead (1/2)
  • Farseer
  • Guardian Squad
  • Rangers
  • Swooping Hawks
  • Total Cost: About 151 GBP or 251 USD

An example of an army you can make this way:

Quote
BATTALION of AELDARI ASURYANI <CRAFTWORLD>
HQ: Farseer with Witchblade - 110
HQ: Spiritseer - 65
TROOPS: 10 Guardian Defenders with a Shuriken Cannon Platform - 95
TROOPS: 10 Guardian Defenders with a Shuriken Cannon Platform - 95
TROOPS: 5 Rangers - 60
ELITE: 5 Wraithguard with D-Scythes - 215
FAST: 6 Swooping Hawks, one of which is an Exarch armed with a Hawk's Talon - 81
HEAVY: Wraithlord with Ghostglaive, 2 Shuriken Cannons, 2 Wrist-mounted Shuriken Catapults - 115
TRANSPORT: Wave Serpent with Twin Bright Lances, Twin Shuriken Catapult - 162

998 pts

This army is mostly units that operate well at close ranges. Guardians, Wraithguard, and the Wraithlord all want to be up close and personal to get their licks in. To expand this army to 1500 points, some long range shooting in the form of Fire Prisms would be a good addition, as well as adding another unit of basic troops like 5 more Rangers, which would allow the 2 Guardian units to merge into one, larger Guardian unit that could use Webway Strike.

Option 3: Add a Hemlock Wraithfighter

The Hemlock Wraithfighter is a monstrosity born of desperate times, a vehicle piloted as much by the souls of dead Eldar as by the Spiritseer at the helm, wielding psychic energy and powerful weapons. On the tabletop, this flyer acts as a spellcaster and a bearer of short range heavy weapons. This is considered one of the best units in the Craftworlds arsenal right now. A Hemlock Wraithfighter box costs 65 USD or 40 GBP, and can instead be used to make a Crimson Hunter.

Total Purchases
  • Wake the Dead (1/2)
  • Farseer
  • Guardian Squad
  • Rangers
  • Hemlock Wraithfighter
  • Total Cost: About 140 GBP or 230 USD

An example of an army you can make this way:

Quote
BATTALION of AELDARI ASURYANI <CRAFTWORLD>
HQ: Farseer  with Witchblade - 110
HQ: Spiritseer - 65
TROOPS: 10 Guardian Defenders with a Shuriken Cannon Platform - 95
TROOPS: 10 Guardian Defenders with a Shuriken Cannon Platform - 95
TROOPS: 5 Rangers - 60
ELITE: 5 Wraithguard with D-Scythes - 215
FLYER: Hemlock Wraithfighter - 210
TRANSPORT: Wave Serpent with Twin Shuriken Cannons, Shuriken Cannon - 134

997 pts

This army is mostly units that operate at close ranges, and most things in this army are either pretty fast, or are in a transport to be fast.  To expand this army to 1500 points, some long range shooting in the form of Fire Prisms would be a good addition, as well as adding another unit of basic troops like 5 more Rangers, which would allow the 2 Guardian units to merge into one, larger Guardian unit that could use Webway Strike.


General Advice - Budgeting and Purchases

Models and play tools: Depending on which option you went for, your total price for models before shipping and tax should come to about 150 GBP or 240 USD, or within a reasonable range of that. If you are new to the hobby, there will be other expenses. Remember to buy the Codex+Cards (£35/$55), a Measuring tape (£4/$8), some dice (a cube of reasonably priced d6s should be 15 GBP or USD), and hobby equipment, which I describe in detail below.

Modeling tools: For glue, any superglue (Cyanoacrylate) will work. The kind with a brush cap or narrow nozzle is ideal, since you will easily put too much as you start out. This should cost ~10 GBP/USD, more or less depending on size. You will also want a set of modeling files, a hobby knife, and clippers. Clippers will remove the pieces of the model from the sprue. Modeling files will clean up mold lines and bits of sprue stuck to the model. The hobby knife is a general purpose knife as you will find you have all sorts of things that need to be cut or trimmed. A miniatures file should be between 5 and 10 GBP/USD, a hobby knife should be in the same range, sprue clippers should cost in that range as well. Some companies sell hobby boxes that include all these items and let you get a better price.

Painting tools: For paints, I prefer to use Citadel paints as GW recommends, but there are as many opinions on paint brands as there are painters. If you can, spray-on base coat and spray-on primer make things easier. I do tend to use a different primer, since I like the consistency of the Rust-Oleum 2x Primer (Flat Gray color). There are paint bundles that include large numbers of paints available from GW, but these will often include paints you do not want. Do research, ask on forums, and figure out how you want to paint before purchasing paints, so you only buy what you need. Expect to pay between 50 USD and 120 USD unless you are very frugal for paints.

For brushes, buy cheap paintbrushes. A cheap set of miniatures paintbrushes goes for about 10 GBP/USD. You will ruin them, that is what happens to most people's first set of brushes. This way, you will not feel bad about it. Read and watch lots of guides for newbies.

Conclusion

By buying a Farseer and a couple troop units, as well as some more powerful fast, or heavy units, you can build a fun and interesting 1,000-point Craftworlds army out of the Wake the Dead box. If you split the Wake the Dead box with someone, all together, this should cost about 150 GBP or 240 USD for the models, another 50 GBP or 70 USD for gaming tools, and another 50-150 GBP/USD on paints and painting tools. On the high end, this is going to be about 350 GBP or 480 USD in total.


« Last Edit: March 7, 2019, 02:40:54 AM by Blazinghand »
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Offline Lord of Winter and War

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What about adding in the getting started craftworlds box? Also a fantastic value. I find it odd to recommend buying a wraithlord and not that box.
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Offline Blazinghand

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What about adding in the getting started craftworlds box? Also a fantastic value. I find it odd to recommend buying a wraithlord and not that box.

That's a great point. I'll put together an option for doing that as well, so I'm guessing this will end up over 1000 points, you'll end up with a really good army at a good price.
Quote from: Howard Zinn
There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.

 


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